Shame on You Michael Steele.

Yesterday Michael Steele was asked about Civil Unions for gay and lesbian couples. Here is his response:

Do you favor civil unions?" Gallagher asked:
STEELE: No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you crazy? No. Why would we backslide on a core, founding value of this country. I mean this isn't something that you just kind of like, "Oh well, today I feel, you know, loosey-goosey on marriage." I mean, this is a foundational principle of this country. It is a foundational principle of organized society. It isn't something that, you know, in America we decided, "Let's make it between a man and a woman; oh well now, let's change our mind and make it between anyone and anyone." No.

GALLAGHER: So no room even for a conversation about civil unions, in your
mind?

STEELE: What's the difference?
GALLAGHER: Well, you're not calling it marriage.
STEELE: Is it?
GALLAGHER: I don't know. I mean, I... I...

STEELE: I mean, like Sarah Palin said, you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.

GALLAGHER: Yeah yeah yeah, but the argument that Sean Penn is making, and I agree that this is, the squeaky wheel doesn't have to get the grease and there's not a state that says, we favor redefining marriage as anything other than one man and one woman. But there are a lot of people who say, "but yet, this country isn't a country that wants to discriminate against two people if they're in a committed relationship. We don't want to deny them benefits, we don't want to deny them opportunities."

STEELE: Ok, but wait a minute. Is it going to -- what is it? Is it going to you want the benefits or you want something else? If you want the benefits, there's a little thing called contract law, you've got power of attorney. There's a whole number of ways in which two individuals can care for each other and look out for each other without having to put the imprimatur of marriage on their forehead.

GALLAGHER: right right.

STEELE: So, I don't understand why you need to weaken an institution that is a foundational institution of not just America, of mankind. I mean this is something that as human beings, we have organized ourselves around. This thing called a family unit. This is how we've defined it. And, sure, things have changed over the years. And, sure, you know, gays adopt and all this other...but when you go to that foundational principle of marriage and you're now saying, "well, you know, we're going to backslide away from that." What are you saying as a society of people? What are you saying as human beings? I don't...I guess that's the question that we're going to debate, but all due respect to Sean Penn, I just, you know, I disagree with that view. I don't think there's hate in it. I don't think there's discrimination. It's just a core, foundational principle of our society that this what we believe and this is what we adhere to.

First off Mr. Steele, Palin put her lipstick on a pit bull, not a pig. Obama was the one putting his lipstick on a pig.

Second, who is the crazy one here? It is a fact that a majority of the people in this country AT LEAST support the right for gay couples to have a civil union. By saying that you do not even support the "separate but equal" doctrine of civil unions you have just alienated a large majority of the country. THAT is crazy Mr. Steele.

And last but certainly not least, I am unsure how ANYONE thinks that not allowing gays and lesbians the right to marry is anything BUT discrimination. Just because it was tradition or "value" that this country was founded on doesn't make it right or non-discriminatory. When this country was founded Mr. Steele wouldn't have even had the right to vote. I would not have had the right to vote. So Mr. Steele, should we go back to those founding values as well? I mean they are traditional! That means they couldn't possibly be discriminatory, right?

And FYI Mr. Steele, contract law does not allow the same benefits of marriage. Before you spout off your ignorance and hate you may want to do a little research.

RNC Chair Michael Steele, my pick for Douche Bag of the month of February.

The Pets

I realized today that I have not had one post about my "kids". This is a travesty. The world really needs to see the cuteness that is our animal children.

I adopted our first kid a couple of years before I met The Husband. He has moved with me multiple times and we have been through a lot together. He is the best cat in the whole world. He loves cat nip, escaping to the outdoors and watching us chase him, his scratching post, ranch dressing and his spot next to me on the bed. He is also very contemplative, taking minutes to decide exactly where and how to lie down or to decide what he wants to do next. It gets pretty humorous ;) This is Mason:

Next came Roarke. When The Husband and I first moved in together Mason came with me (of course), but we were worried about him being alone all day. So one day we were in PetSmart and there was this adorable little black kitten up for adoption. We had to fight another couple for him, but we won :) Roarke is a talker who is a total Daddy's boy. He loves to be held, to lick you, his treats and food in general, playing with his feather toy and cuddling and play fighting withe the other cats. He also has the attention span of a gnat. This is Roarke:

Last but certainly not least is our newest addition, Charlie. One of The Husband's colleagues found him skinny, dirty and matted outside near her house, but she couldn't keep him. We decided that if he got along with our other cats we would take him. The first couple days were a little rough, but now he is best buds with the other cats. Charlie like to play with all the toys we have, to kneed for long periods of time on your stomach and too talk up a storm. He also has the oddest facial expressions which tend to send us into laughing fits. This is Charlie:

All of our cats are very friendly and love people. There is no hiding under the bed and being shy in our house! They also all greet us at the door every night when we get home from work. Aren't animals the best? We really do believe that we have the best cats in the world. Don't even try and argue with us.

We think they still love us too.

Milk - My Pick for Best Picture of the Year (Spoilers)

Bear with me. This is going to be a long post and it is going to involve my soapbox, because Harvey Milk loved his soapbox and wanted us all to use ours.

First, the movie itself was phenomenal. I knew who Harvey Milk was, but not all the details of his story. The story is powerful, inspirational and heartbreaking. Sean Penn fully and completely became Harvey Milk in this film. The rest of the cast was also superb, including James Franco, Emile Hirsche and Josh Brolin. (And on a side note, this movie made me want to get back up to San Francisco). The love story between Milk and Scott Smith was also inspirational. Although tumultuous, their love for each other never ended, even when they were no longer together. The role of Scott was played amazingly well by James Franco.

The other person I fell in love with was Cleve Jones. Emile Hirsche did a great job in this role, I love the picture above of Emile with the real Cleve Jones. The most poignant scene of the whole movie came after his death, when tens of thousands of people marched to city hall, all carrying candles. The streets were FULL of people. This is where the tears started coming. I really appreciated that they showed us original footage of this march so we could see the enormity of the outpouring of love for Harvey. He was not just loved by the GLBT community, but by many groups in San Francisco because he was always championing the rights of the little people. I also really give a lot of credit to Josh Brolin for his portrayal of Dan White, the assassin of Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone. It can't have been an easy role to take on, and he played it fabulously. It was understated, but you could really see the hate beginning to brew within him because he didn't receive the acclaim and power that Milk received.

Now for my soapbox. The parallels to what is happening today in the struggle for equal rights are obvious and abundant. Harvey Milk campaigned tirelessly for the end of discrimination and made huge strides in San Francisco, California and the United States. He inspired a generation of people to come out of the closet and embrace their identity. During Milk's service as Supervisor he had to fight a proposition aimed at taking away gay rights. Prop 6 was sponsored by an assemblyman from Orange County (shocker!) and was majorly funded my church groups, specifically evangelical Christians. (Sound familiar?). This prop would have taken away the right for an openly gay person or anyone that supported them to teach in public schools. It was basically a witch hunt bill. At first the bill was shown to win, but through Milk and thousands like him our state ended up voting no on that prop and many other anti-gay initiatives that followed. That is until Prop 22 passed banning gay marriage and now of course Prop 8, banning gay marriage in our constitution.

I am also disgusted that the story of Harvey Milk is not taught in public schools nationwide. His story is not just about gay rights, but about the struggle in this country for civil rights for all people. Leaving out the history of the first openly gay man elected to public office is inexcusable. There was a bill passed in our state legislature last year to create a Harvey Milk day where schools would teach about Milk and we could celebrate his life, but it was vetoed. The Evangelical/Mormon movement came out against it in full force, calling it a "Gay Day". Our Governor bowed under the pressure. Shame on him.

Why are we regressing? Why are we again listening to the hateful rants of a few religious people instead of overwhelming message of love? What this movie taught me is that we did not fight hard enough. When people forget history we are doomed to repeat it, and we did not remind people enough of the history of gay rights in this country. We didn't promote love and banish hate enough. I blame myself for not being more active. I could have given more money than I did. I could have passed out campaign literature. I could have attended rallies. My small monetary donations and painting No on 8 on my car were not nearly enough, and I know that now. If the current lawsuits do not overturn Prop 8 you can bet your life that I will be campaigning long and hard to overturn this amendment during the next election. Harvey Milk was and is an inspiration to all people, not just GLBT Americans. He taught us that you have to fight for Civil Rights and that the fight is worth it. He taught us that love always wins over hate and that all people really truly are created equal.

Last night at the Oscar's, a young openly gay Dustin Lance Black won for best Original Screenplay and his speech made me tear up. The producers, director, Sean Penn and Black all wore white knots symbolizing the struggle for gay rights. I loved that he said:

"When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a
conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas, to California, and I heard the
story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life;
it gave me the hope that one day I could live my life openly as who I am and
that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married. . . .
Most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they
are less than by their churches, or by the government, or by their families,
that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value. And that no matter what
everyone tells you, God does love you, and that very soon, I promise you, you
will have equal rights federally across this great nation of ours."

And of course Sean Penn won for His amazing acting job. Those "commie homo loving sons of guns" did the right thing and gave the most deserving man the Oscar. Penn joked that it is not always easy to appreciate him, which is true LOL I think he has a huge heart and sometimes his good intentions are a little, well, over the top and actually have the opposite effect. His speech last night hit the perfect note though, and I am very very happy about his win.

I think Harvey Milk would have been proud and ready to continue fight for marriage equality and equal rights in this country. And I truly believe that in my lifetime gay marriage will be legal in all 50 states.

A Weekend Getaway

Last weekend The Husband and I decided to splurge on a quick one night trip down to San Diego to celebrate Valentine's Day and our tax return. We are so lucky to live so close to such great destinations.

So Sunday afternoon we made the hour and half long journey down to SD and arrived in the gaslamp district. We had never stayed in this area before (we usually stay in the Mission Bay area), so it was a new experience. I found a great deal on Hotels.com for a small boutique hotel called The Ivy. Let me just say this hotel was AWESOME. The location was perfect, service great, and the rooms/views were fantastic. The room had a huge bathtub and shower, a great view with 2 huge windows with window seats, a good size flat screen TV and a great mini-bar. The rooms were small, but we knew that when we booked a boutique hotel. The only complaint we had was that the toilet started making random noises in the middle of the night and the nightclub across the street apparently had some issues since the police were there in for at about 1:30am. This of course wasn't the hotels fault, but it did wake up The Husband.

When we booked the room we also received a $25 credit to the restaurant that they have on site, The Quarter Kitchen, so we decided to have dinner there. The food was excellent! The Husband had the Rack of Lamb, which came with Ratatouille (we were really excited about that being huge Disney nerds), and I had garlic cream of spinach and macaroni and cheese which was to die for. I would highly recommend this restaurant even if you are not staying at the Ivy. It was on the pricey side, but not over the top.

After dinner we walked around and explored the gaslamp district, stopping briefly at TGI Fridays to have a drink. The whole area is really fun, full of little shops, pubs and bars. There is also Horton Plaza, which is huge! We spent a little time there as well.


After returning to our room we discovered that the bar across the street had a mechanical bull that we could see from our wonderful window seats. We sent probably way too much time watching drunk people try and stay on that thing, but it was hilarious.

Monday morning it was pouring, so we decided to head home in the morning. It was a great trip and a much needed escape from reality.

Jr. High Reminiscing

I recently found an old friend on myspace and scanned in a couple old pictures to share with him. They made me giggle, so I thought I would share. I am sure we can all remember the styles of the mid-nineties. Yuck! I would also like to point out the M & Ms costume I was sporting in the 2nd picture. Hot. My nerdiness runs deep.

We Are Up for Adoption!

We have a couple super cute new dogs up for adoption, so I wanted to share.

First up, Rufus!

Rufus is a wonderful little dog. He weighs in at only 5lbs but is a complete lover and what we call an "issue free" dog. That means he is as perfect a companion as you could want. Plus he is really really cute :)

Next we have Tiffany and Sterling, 5 year old Italian Greyhound Mixes.

These would make fabulous companions. They love nothing more than snuggling with each other and people on a comfy couch or bed. They are a little shy and would do better in an adult only home with a calm enviroment. The are also very bonded to each other, so we want to make sure we find them a home that will be willing to take both dogs.

Back To School

Last week marked the beginning of the spring semester at Orange Coast College, and hopefully my last semester there. I have been in college for 7 years. Yes, 7. At the Jr. College level. While most people probably think that is not an accomplishment to be proud of, I actually AM proud of myself. I have been through quite a bit in those 7 years, changed my major multiple times and worked full time throughout. Through it all I have kept going, only taking off a semester here and there. Now I can finally apply to state schools and get down to the hard work of earning my BA in Political Science.

This semester I am taking Sociology. Seems like it will be very interesting and I think it complements Political Science very well.It is important to know why people do things and what motivates them when working in government. My professor seems great, she has a sarcastic and dry sense of humor, which is right up my alley. I am also happy to report that I am not the oldest person in my class! A majority of the students look 18 or 19, but at least I don't stick out like a sore thumb. So my Tuesday nights will now consist of sitting in class from 6-9:10. American Idol will have to be DVRed :(

I am also taking Real Estate Law online. This will be a great class as it will actually help me out with my current job. Last semester I completed Real Estate Principles, so this class will delve more into detail about the laws surrounding real estate. Since I work in the real estate industry in the title underwriting area this class should be immensely beneficial. I don't have to start this course until the end of March and it is online only, which is wonderful. I wish I could take all of my classes like this. I am guessing that some day most classes will be offered online. I can't wait.

The Steeler's did it!!

What a great game! The Husband and I headed over to my parents house for a fantastic Super Bowl party. We ate tons of junk food (pizza, salsa, ranch dip, 7 layer dip and spinach artichoke dip) and I made Cocoa Krispie footballs which turned out really yummy. Since they turned out so well I wanted to share the recipe:

CHOCOLATE FOOTBALL RICE KRISPIE TREATS
Ingredients:
6 squares Bakers
semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon
margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups of Rice Krispies OR Cocoa Pebbles
cereal
White decorating gel
Directions:
Microwave chocolate, corn syrup
and butter in large bowl on HIGH for 2 1/2 minutes. Stir well.
Add in
vanilla. Add cereal. Mix well.
Cool for 10 minutes.
Shape into 18 (3
inch long) football shapes with lightly moistened hands. Place on wax paper and
cool completely.
Use decorating gel to add laces. Let stand until laces are
firm.

Watching the game was really a blast. It was one of the best super bowls I have ever watched and that was only intensified by the fact my team was playing! I have been a Steeler's fan for about 5 or 6 years now. I proclaimed my fandom the year before Big Ben started playing. I never had a team to root for before the Steeler's (since we have no team in LA) so I have really enjoyed backing such a great organization. I have really come to appreciate the Rooney family as well as the coaching staff. I mean really, there is no better defensive coordinator than Dick LeBeau. I also love the hard hitting, defense based, physical football that they play. Luckily, The Husband was a also a big Steeler's fan and has been for most of his life. We look super cute when we are decked out in our Steeler gear wildly waiving our terrible towels and yelling at the TV.

The game last night almost induced a couple of anxiety attacks during the 4th quarter. I couldn't believe the Fitzgerald TD! I have learned to never ever count the Steeler's out though. Big Ben is awesome in the clutch and has very rarely failed to deliver. That last drive was AMAZING and the catch by Holmes will go down in super bowl history as one of the best receptions ever. As one sports reporter put it "The Immaculate Reception 2.0".

One of my favorite parts of the super bowl is watching the raw emotion at the end of the game. Seeing Hines Ward cry while holding his son just about put me over the edge. It was also great to see Mike Tomlin hoist the Lombardi trophy as the youngest head coach to ever win a super bowl.

Since we have been together the Steeler's have won 2 super bowls. I think we are their good luck charms :) It was a fantastic night in our house yesterday!